For as long as she can remember, Sarah’s family life has revolved around her twin sister, Annie—the pretty one, the social one, the girl who can do anything. The person everyone seems to wish Sarah—with her crippling shyness—could simply become.

When Annie suddenly chops off her hair, quits beauty pageants, and gains weight, the focus changes—Annie is still the star of the family, but for all the wrong reasons. Sarah knows something has happened, but she too is caught in her own spiral after her boyfriend breaks up with her and starts hanging out with one of Annie’s old friends.

Annie is intent on keeping her painful secret safe. But when she and Sarah start spending time together again for the first time in years, walls start to break on both sides … and words that had been left unsaid could change everything.

My two-bits:

This one kept me wondering to the end as each girl housed a secret of their own which slowly unravelled.

The story is told in two voices that are well distinguished in writing style. Annie is in a poetic voice, while Sarah tells a more descriptive side of things.

Got me thinking of sisters - sisterly love and support.

About the author:

Carol Lynch Williams, a two-time winner of the Utah Original Writing Competition, is the author of several books for children, including two novels about the Orton family of New Smyrna, Florida: Kelly and Me and Adeline Street. A starred School Library Journal review of The True Colors of Caitlynne Jackson praises Williams as she "again demonstrates her facility at mood and character development... Truer colors are hard to come by."

Sunday, August 30, 2015

One of my favorite publishers, BookSparks (check out their site for specials and giveaways), will be featuring some great reads this Fall. Below are a few I will be featuring and reviewing. Take a look and let me know if any interest you in comments and you will be eligible to WIN my review copy of the book (and leave your email) -offer ends November 30, 2015, in time for a December treat in your mailbox ;-)

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

When New York Post writer Stephanie Smith made a turkey and Swiss on white bread for her boyfriend, Eric (aka E), he took one bite and uttered those now-famous words. While her beau’s declaration initially seemed unusual, even antiquated, Stephanie accepted the challenge and got to work. Little did she know she was about to cook up the sexiest and most controversial love story of her generation.

300 Sandwiches is the story of Stephanie and E’s epic journey of bread and betrothal, with a whole loaf of recipes to boot. For Stephanie, a novice in the kitchen, making a sandwich—or even 300—for E wasn’t just about getting a ring; it was her way of saying “I love you” while gaining confidence as a chef. It was about how many breakfast sandwiches they could eat together on future Sunday mornings, how many s’mores might follow family snowboarding trips, how many silly fights would end in makeup sandwiches. Suddenly, she saw a lifetime of happiness between those two slices of bread.

Not everyone agreed. The media dubbed E “the Internet’s Worst Boyfriend”; bloggers attacked the loving couple for setting back the cause of women’s rights; opinions about their romance echoed from as far away as Japan. Soon, Stephanie found her cooking and her relationship under the harsh glare of the spotlight.

From culinary twists on peanut butter and jelly to “Not Your Mother’s Roast Beef” spicy French Dip to Chicken and Waffle BLTs, Stephanie shares the creations—including wraps, burritos, paninis, and burgers—that ultimately sated E’s palate and won his heart. Part recipe book, part girl-meets-boy memoir, 300 Sandwiches teaches us that true love always wins out—one delicious bite at a time.

=====> I heard out this woman's challenge a couple years ago and was intrigued with the variety of sandwiches she concocted. Always looking for lunch ideas...

OTHER things on my shelf: kinda book-related

DON'T miss it, I almost did...

Austen in August
hosted by The Book Rat
August 18-31, 2015
(details here)

Fall Reading Challenge 2015
sponsored by BookSparks
starts in September
check out it out (here)
join and signup (here)

They've been through hell. Antonio has a price on his head for turning his back on a marriage deal, and Theresa has no intention of turning her back on him. They're devoted and strong, ready for anything....

A Love Tested To The Limit

And then, someone from Antonio's past reappears. Someone who can give him everything he ever wanted, and who can shake them to their very core.

#livetogether
#dietogether

In this stunning conclusion to the USA Today Bestselling series, Antonio and Theresa will have their passion, their devotion and their very will to live tested.

About the author:

CD Reiss is a USA Today and Amazon bestseller. She still has to chop wood and carry water, which was buried in the fine print. Her lawyer is working it out with God but in the meantime, if you call and she doesn’t pick up, she’s at the well, hauling buckets.

Born in New York City, she moved to Hollywood, California to get her master’s degree in screenwriting from USC. In case you want to know, that went nowhere, but it did embed TV story structure in her head well enough for her to take a big risk on a TV series structured erotic series called Songs of Submission. It’s about a kinky billionaire hung up on his ex-wife, an ingenue singer with a wisecracking mouth; art, music and sin in the city of Los Angeles.

Critics have dubbed the books “poetic,” “literary,” and “hauntingly atmospheric,” which is flattering enough for her to put it in a bio, but embarrassing enough for her not to tell her husband, or he might think she’s some sort of braggart who’s too good to give the toilets a once-over every couple of weeks or chop a cord of wood.

First sentence(s):
This book was born on a cold, drizzly, late spring day when I clambered over the split-rail cedar fence that surrounds my pasture and made my way through wet woods to the modest frame house where Joe Rantz lay dying.

Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s 1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.

The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower, Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered self-regard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism.

Drawing on the boys’ own diaries and journals, their photos and memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, The Boys in the Boat is an irresistible story about beating the odds and finding hope in the most desperate of times—the improbable, intimate story of nine working-class boys from the American west who, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what true grit really meant.

PeekAbook:

My two-bits:

Absolutely inspiring!

This is one of those reads where the underdog prevails despite all the odds. The journey up to the moment of the win had nail-biting moments.

Loved the coaches and mentors who brought out the best in the individuals.

And, loved how this book encompassed all aspects of the time period from across the sea as well as at the boy's university.

About the author:

Daniel James Brown fell in love with the written word when he was five and his mother first read Danny and the Dinosaur to him. Since then he has earned a BA in English from the University of California at Berkeley and an MA in English from UCLA. He has taught writing at San Jose State University and Stanford University and now lives in the country east of Redmond, Washington, where he writes nonfiction books about compelling historical events.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Stepbrother Dearest, comes a new forbidden STANDALONE romance.

What happens when the one you want is the only one you can’t have?

My name is Sevin.

Homeschooled and sheltered by my ultra-religious family, I was always taught that lust was a sin.

Elle was the girl who’d been carefully chosen for me.

After a long-distance courtship, I’d be moving into her family’s guesthouse so that we could get to know each other in the months before the wedding.

Boundaries were set: no inappropriate touching, no kissing, no sex before marriage.

I’d accepted those rules and my fate.

Until I met the one I wanted to sin with.

That was when restraint became a problem…especially since the one wasn’t Elle.

It was her sister, Evangeline.

You know what they say about best laid plans.

My name is Sevin, and I have sinned.

Told in alternating points of view, Sins of Sevin is a full-length standalone novel. Contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. Only appropriate for adult readers age 18+.

About the author:

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author. She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor, before switching to a more family-friendly career. She is the proud mother of a beautiful 10-year-old girl with autism and a 9-year-old boy. Penelope and her family reside in Rhode Island.

First sentence(s):I drag my suitcase out from under the bed and start packing.

The Ramona books go in the elastic pocket intended for socks and underwear; the yellow-spined Nancy Drews go in neat towers on the luggage floor. Around these, I wedge Anastasia Krupnik, Pippi Longstocking, Emily of New Moon, Harriet the Spy, Betsy, Tacy and Tib, the All-of-a-Kind Family.

Fans of I Don’t Know How She Does It and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? will cheer at this “fresh, funny take on the age-old struggle to have it all” (People) about what happens when a wife and mother of three leaps at the chance to fulfill her professional destiny—only to learn every opportunity comes at a price.

In A Window Opens, beloved books editor at Glamour magazine Elisabeth Egan brings us Alice Pearse, a compulsively honest, longing-to-have-it-all, sandwich generation heroine for our social-media-obsessed, lean in (or opt out) age. Like her fictional forebears Kate Reddy and Bridget Jones, Alice plays many roles (which she never refers to as “wearing many hats” and wishes you wouldn’t, either). She is a mostly-happily married mother of three, an attentive daughter, an ambivalent dog-owner, a part-time editor, a loyal neighbor and a Zen commuter. She is not: a cook, a craftswoman, a decorator, an active PTA member, a natural caretaker or the breadwinner. But when her husband makes a radical career change, Alice is ready to lean in—and she knows exactly how lucky she is to land a job at Scroll, a hip young start-up which promises to be the future of reading, with its chain of chic literary lounges and dedication to beloved classics. The Holy Grail of working mothers―an intellectually satisfying job and a happy personal life―seems suddenly within reach.

Despite the disapproval of her best friend, who owns the local bookstore, Alice is proud of her new “balancing act” (which is more like a three-ring circus) until her dad gets sick, her marriage flounders, her babysitter gets fed up, her kids start to grow up and her work takes an unexpected turn. Readers will cheer as Alice realizes the question is not whether it’s possible to have it all, but what does she―Alice Pearse―really want?

My two-bits:

The story takes you into the chaotic life of Alice who goes from stay-at-home (part time worker) to full time worker. While she juggles the different aspects of her life, it slowly becomes clear to her that there is more to balancing everything.

I liked how the family and friends were portrayed as most of them were likable and supportive. As the story progresses the day to day activities and doings felt like a comfy read at times.

I also liked how the issues involving her father were handled. The feelings and thoughts on experiencing and dealing with parents with an illness were pretty spot on.

Loved that Alice's career was book-related and took us into some behind-the-scenes moments of being in the book business.

About the author:

Elisabeth Egan is the books editor at Glamour. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Self, Glamour, O, People, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Huffington Post, The New York Times Book Review, LA Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, and the Newark Star-Ledger. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

First sentence(s):
Figures, she thought, the one day she hoped to sleep in, some knucklehead celebrity had to up and crash his plane.

How do you stay anchored when you’re attracted to your co-anchor?

Barbara King’s dream is to become the next Barbara Walters. But for now, she’s anchoring at the fledgling Phoenix news channel, covering car chases and interviewing drunken showbiz has-beens. If she can just out-fox the conniving anchors at her cable channel and move up to its prime-time line-up, she’ll be able to fly the coop and ascend to a real news network.

Enter Jack Stone, Barbara’s dynamic, witty—and did she mention sexy?—new co-anchor. Another potential competitor, Jack’s attitude is chilly toward Barbara at first, but it’s not long before a genuine friendship forms. Soon they find themselves finishing each other’s sentences, discovering all they have in common and, ultimately, attempting to ignore how wildly attracted they are to each other. Meanwhile, on the set, under television’s bright lights, they sit just inches apart, their chemistry even apparent to the quirky cast of characters in the gossiping newsroom.

Will Barbara give in to her attraction to Jack and betray her husband, Ben, her sweet-souled moral compass? When a life-altering news event propels the Phoenix to the #1 news channel in the nation, will Barbara sell her soul to become a prime time star?

How do you stay true to yourself when you’re being seduced by stardom—and your co-star?

My two-bits:

This was an entertaining gentle chick-lit read that covers the dilemma of love at home and love in the workplace. I liked the characters so well that I would have been happy with whatever couple outcome came about.

The day to day workings of life on a news channel was interesting to learn about along with the competitive nature and doings of the business.

Got me thinking of fidelity and kinds of love.

About the author:

Brigitte Quinn has worked in broadcasting for more than thirty years, and was a television anchor at the Fox News Channel, MSNBC and NBC. She holds an MFA in writing from Sarah Lawrence College and a BS from Cornell University.

She lives in Connecticut with her husband and three children, and is currently anchoring mornings at 1010 WINS radio in New York City. Anchored is her first novel.

First sentence(s):
"Atticus, we really don't have all day. Would you please move a little faster?"

Atticus Hobart couldn’t feel lower. He’s in love with a girl who doesn’t know he exists, he is the class bully’s personal punching bag, and to top it all off, his dad has just left the family. Into this drama steps Mr. Looney, a 77-year-old substitute English teacher with uncanny insight and a most unconventional approach to teaching. But Atticus soon discovers there’s more to Mr. Looney’s methods than he’d first thought. And as Atticus begins to unlock the truths within his own name, he finds that his hyper-imagination can help him forge his own voice, and maybe—just maybe—discover that the power to face his problems was inside him all along.

My two-bits:

Found this read to be inspirational with little triumphs.

Loved the character development and growth of main character, Atticus, with some guidance from an unconventional teacher.

Got me thinking of teachers who make a positive difference in children's lives.

Interesting to note that references to author Harper Lee and her classic, To Kill A Mockingbird and reference to Go Set A Watchman is timely. With all the negative hype about Go Set A Watchman, I did not plan on adding it to my tbr pile. Now, I really want to read it.

About the author:

Why I Love Writing: "I learn by going where I have to go." --Theodore Roethke; "In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a long time." --Andre Gide; "One man loved the pilgrim soul in you / And loved the sorrows of your changing face." --W.B. Yeats; "Growing up, poetry had been the sanctuary, that space in words where longing could be spoken." --bell hooks; "I saw the angel in the marble and carved him out until I set him free." --Michaelangelo

* I will email winners for mailing addresses within two weeks.
Winners, feel free to contact me with your info if you don't get my email
or if you are just too darn excited and want to let me know -- like NOW ;-D

A romantic page-turner propelled by the sixty-year secret that has shaped two families, four lovers, and one seaside resort community.

Set against dramatic Mediterranean Sea views and lush olive groves, The Rocks opens with a confrontation and a secret: What was the mysterious, catastrophic event that drove two honeymooners apart so suddenly and absolutely in 1948 that they never spoke again despite living on the same island for sixty more years? And how did their history shape the Romeo and Juliet–like romance of their (unrelated) children decades later? Centered around a popular seaside resort club and its community, The Rocks is a double love story that begins with a mystery, then moves backward in time, era by era, to unravel what really happened decades earlier.

Peter Nichols writes with a pervading, soulful wisdom and self-knowing humor, and captures perfectly this world of glamorous, complicated, misbehaving types with all their sophisticated flaws and genuine longing. The result is a bittersweet, intelligent, and romantic novel about how powerful the perceived truth can be—as a bond, and as a barrier—even if it’s not really the whole story; and how one misunderstanding can echo irreparably through decades.

My two-bits:

Bittersweet read, indeed. While not a favorite read, this was written very well in portraying love gone tainted due to circumstances.

Loved how the location was a character in itself. It provided the right mood and stable backdrop for the various scenes of the past and present.

About the author:

Peter Nichols has worked in advertising and as a screenwriter and a shepherd in Wales, and he has sailed alone across the Atlantic. He divides his time between Europe and the United States.

~*~

* listened to the audio version

* part of my Armchair Summer Travel (details) - check it out to enter Armchair Summer Travel Book Box Giveaway

Course Title: Ancestry 101
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: September 28
Description: Track one woman’s journey through the generations and learn to identify key heirlooms and clues in tracing your lineage with The Legacy of Us taught by Kristin Contino.

Course Title: Anatomy & Physiology
Department: Memoir
Course Date: November 2
Description: Take an honest look at growing up on the verge of death by following the life of Lene Folgelberg, a double open-heart surgery survivor.

Course Title: Advanced Trauma & Recovery
Department: Women’s Fiction
Course Date: December 7
Description: Go inside the complicated world of sisterly relations, family secrets and unthinkable acts with this course by Steena Holmes. Past students are still talking about it!